Spring Log II

by Isuna Hasekura

  Lawrence did not mind spending time like this.

  “This reminds me of the past.”

  Several small birds emerged from the fields and flew into the forest. Perhaps prompted by the sound of their wings, Holo spoke absently, holding a skin filled with wine.

  But there was no sign that she had become drunk from unreserved day drinking.

  “Do you want to go traveling again?”

  It had been during Lawrence’s time as a traveling merchant when he met Holo. Then, on an exciting journey to find her homeland, they got themselves into all sorts of commotion, time and time again.

  It felt like nothing had changed since then, but when he watched the profile of Holo’s face, looking up at the sky, it did seem like it had changed a bit.

  Holo looked down at him and smiled bitterly.

  “You fool. Of course not.”

  She stood, brushing off a mass of bread crumbs that had fallen on her skirt, then stretched.

  She gazed at the scenery around her, and the edges of her mouth twisted into a satisfied grin.

  “I am fond of where I soak in hot water every day. The place you created.”

  She looked down at him, then smiled, baring her fangs.

  Lawrence narrowed his eyes, though not because the light of the sun was too bright.

  “Soaking in hot water might cure my back pain.”

  “Of course. And the nights are still cold. I would enjoy not camping outside.”

  Though it was warm while the sun was out, there was still plenty of snow in the dark corners of the woods. Once the sun set, it grew dreadfully cold, and he would not be able to sleep without Holo’s tail.

  “It would be awful if I got sick, too. There’s so much to do to get ready for summer, and we have new help coming. We have to prepare her room and think about how we’re going to divide up the work. We have to get home and start…Hmm? What’s wrong?”

  As he ran over the things they had to do, he suddenly realized that Holo was glaring at him.

  She was not cross with him; it was more like she was glaring at a frostbitten toe that was itchy, but she could not scratch.

  “’Tis nothing.”

  Then she turned away in a huff.

  Lawrence stared dumbly at her offended form for a while, and then he finally realized what it was. He smiled wryly.

  “What, you’re still not satisfied?”

  She did not even glance at him.

  “Whatever could you be speaking of?”

  To top it off, she was playing dumb.

  “Seriously…”

  This was not something he could just ignore with a sigh, because even if she was only half-joking, that meant that she was also half-serious. During the festival at Svernel they had just come from, the two of them had run into an unexpected party. There had been quite a lot of talk about them, as this group were prospective rivals in business for the hot spring village of Nyohhira, but their identity turned out to be a band of nonhumans. And of all things, they were not birds or rabbits or sheep—but wolves.

  They had been working as mercenaries in the south when they happened across a chance to obtain a permit and had made their way to the northlands to found their own hot spring village, a place they could rest. But sure enough, trouble arose around the permit, and Lawrence reached out to help them solve their problem.

  He thought that everything had come together nicely in the end. But he had forgotten about the sharp corner that had been left behind even after everything else had rounded out.

  That was because one of the wolves absolutely had to live away from her companions.

  But a master from a bathhouse just happened to be present then. The honest young man and the mischievous yet equally hardworking master’s only daughter had supported the bathhouse until recently, but as they had just left on a journey, the business was shorthanded and they in a bit of a bind. But if the master hired this wolf to work at the bathhouse, then it would kill two birds with one stone.

  The problem was that she had the appearance of a young girl. And she was also the avatar of a wolf. Holo apparently had multiple thoughts regarding these things.

  That being said, it was not an option to chase away the girl they wound up hiring, named Selim. If that happened, then she would truly have nowhere to go, as it was necessary for her to live far away from her older brother and family, who had traveled with her from the south. It would be horrible for a nonhuman to live alone in an unfamiliar town, and Holo was much more sensitive to loneliness than the average person. She was not opposed to the hiring of Selim itself, but her wolflike sense of territory itched at the back of her mind.

  “A young girl coming to us now doesn’t mean anything.”

  No matter how many times he repeated this, Holo was not completely convinced.

  “Fool. I am not worried about that.”

  Her reply brushed the matter aside, but Lawrence knew that it bothered her a little bit. He almost wanted to prattle on and on about how much she meant to him. Holo, who could detect a glove dropped two valleys away by smell alone, knew better than anyone that there was nothing he could hide from her while living under the same roof.

  So her irritation was not logical but emotional.

  He looked at her and privately thought she was adorable.

  The wisewolf Holo only showed her sillier sides to Lawrence.

  “…And what is it you are grinning about?”

  She glared at him with a chilling gaze, and he looked away.

  If he angered her during this time of year, she would definitely make him sleep alone in the cold night.

  “Anyway, when Miss Selim arrives, the busy season of summer will already be waiting. There’s no time to think about anything else.”

  “…”

  Holo, still offended, did not respond. Normally, he would embrace her to help her fix her mood, but he could not move as he pleased due to his back pain. While he was privately frustrated with himself, Holo moved her wolf ears and tail about listlessly, staring out into the distance.

  “’Tis not what I worry about.”

  Then, as he pondered why she was mumbling to herself for once, Holo raised the hood over her head. He did not need to speculate on the reason because before long he could faintly hear the sound of a cranky infant’s cries in the distance.

  A baby? On this road?

  Lawrence tilted his head in puzzlement, until he heard the distinctive sound of a bell.

  Perhaps Holo was in a mood because she noticed their presence before he did.

  She was a wolf and did not get along well with their kind.

  Shepherds.

  “Fool.”

  She muttered underneath her breath, her words hanging in the air, though it was uncertain who they were aimed at. Then she pulled a blanket over her head and lay down.

  With a slightly muffled clang, clang, the shepherd’s bell swayed as the end of his staff struck the ground. It was a tool that confirmed their identities, and they used it to raise sheep outside of towns.

  Lawrence had heard it was grueling work, moving about all day long without much sleep at night to ensure that the sheep did not run away, get attacked by wild dogs, or get stolen. On top of that, townspeople treated them as outsiders as they were scarcely around due to the nature of their work.

  On the contrary, because people did not often get to see their labors, there was a multitude of misunderstandings about them. People held prejudices against shepherds, believing rumors that they understood the words of beasts or lay with them and that they indulged in hideous acts that defied the teachings of God. The shepherdess Lawrence and Holo met long ago had experienced much the same.

  The only partner a shepherd could rely on was typically a lone sheepdog. These companions kept the flock together, fought off thieves alongside their master, and sometimes even faced wolves that targeted their charges. To Holo, the avatar of a wolf and someone who adored the taste of mutton, there was no being as incompatible wi
th her as a shepherd.

  Lawrence now understood that her sulking in the blanket was an indication that she wished for him to deal with the stranger. Enduring the pain in his back, he sat up and rubbed his eyes at the sight before him.

  There was something odd.

  “Thank God for his guidance! Hello there, traveler!”

  The shepherd stood a little ways away and yelled in a loud voice. Then his sheepdog barked loudly and the flock of sheep stood still. There were quite a lot of them—not just a dozen or two. It was a huge mass. Beyond the sheer number, Lawrence also noticed that the sheep, thoroughly muddied on their lower halves, were all plump and seemed quite healthy. It was clear evidence of the shepherd’s skill.

  The good-natured shepherd with a white-streaked goatee growing from his chin stood before the flock of sheep, which were baaing as they pleased with great energy.

  For some reason, the man carried his sheepdog on his shoulder.

  “I am Horad the shepherd!”

  His companion’s coat was the color of chestnuts, and as the sheepdog lay across Horad’s shoulders, it almost seemed like it was his hair.

  The shepherd who identified himself as Horad was a man old enough to have deep wrinkles on his face, so the whole situation was unusual.

  “I am a traveling mer—Ahem. I am Nyohhira bathhouse master Kraft Lawrence! What is it you need?!”

  Lawrence raised his voice so the bleating sheep did not drown him out, and Horad bowed his head deeply, as though thanking him for simply responding.

  “I sincerely believe that meeting you here, Master Lawrence, is due to God’s guidance! If you would have pity on me, then would you be so kind as to offer us a lift to Svernel?!”

  Horad made his request, swaying a bit as he readjusted the sheepdog on his shoulder. His partner obediently stayed still, keeping watch over the sheep.

  “We are actually just coming from Svernel and now returning north!”

  There was a bit of distance between here and Svernel. They probably would not be able to make it before sundown. If they did not want to camp outside, then there was no choice but to continue north and reach a roadside inn.

  “Oh…I see…”

  He may have been expecting to hitch a ride if they were all going in the same direction.

  Horad appeared discouraged, and the dog on his shoulders seemed like it might suddenly slip off.

  “Is something the matter?!”

  It was not unheard of for a shepherd to call out to a traveler. Many believed that there was something magical about shepherds, so there were times when people would ask for charms or some such to protect them on the road, and there were also shepherds who reached out to travelers on their own, offering those services in hopes of making a little extra money.

  However, it did not seem that Horad was that sort of person, and it was the first time Lawrence had ever seen a shepherd carrying his sheepdog on his shoulders.

  “Truth be told, my partner here stepped on a sharp rock and cannot walk!”

  When he spoke, Lawrence finally noticed there was a bandage wrapped around the sheepdog’s front right foot.

  “That’s…”

  Once upon a time, he, too, was a traveling merchant who lived on the road without a place in any town to call home. How would he have felt if his only conversation partner at the time, his wagon horse, got injured?

  He held his breath and dropped his gaze into the wagon bed.

  There, the avatar of a wolf had covered herself with a blanket and was sulking.

  “Holo.”

  She should have heard the entire conversation, and Lawrence’s tone of voice clearly indicated how he felt.

  There was still snow on the ground, and the road was muddy from repeatedly freezing over, then thawing out. Then, by chance, this shepherd’s only companion and hope had become injured, unable to walk.

  He could not overlook this.

  “We might have to camp outside…”

  Hesitatingly, he placed his hand on top of the blanket. But a ferocious wolf with her fangs bared did not jump out at him. When he thought he saw the fuzzy tail that was filling the blanket move, a response came.

  “If ’tis cold, you shall make it warm for me, aye?”

  It was her way of asking if she could drink the finely distilled liquor they bought at Svernel.

  “If you drink yourself to sleep, I’ll even take care of you afterward.”

  “Hmph.”

  Holo snorted, and their negotiations were settled.

  “Mr. Horad!”

  Lawrence called out his name, and Horad, who was studying his partner’s leg, looked up.

  “We’ll help you!”

  He immediately broke into a smile.

  “Thank you!”

  “Should I take you to town?!”

  At Lawrence’s feet, Holo covered her ears in an exaggerated manner, but it probably had as much to do with how irritating the bleating sheep had become.

  “Well, I was just thinking about that. Even if you spent the whole night and then some bringing me to town, I wouldn’t be able to repay you!”

  Lawrence was about to say how that was unnecessary when Horad continued.

  “Instead, do you think you could look after my sheep for a bit?!”

  “Your sheep?”

  Lawrence murmured unwittingly, practically speaking to himself.

  Would Horad simply run to town with his partner over his shoulders in the meantime?

  “I suddenly remembered I have a friend just over there!” Horad explained as he pointed behind Lawrence.

  For a moment, a shiver shot down Lawrence’s spine, as he imagined the possibility that bandits were approaching from behind them, falling into a trap where they would be attacked on both sides. But he quickly realized Holo would most certainly have noticed that. His powerful watchwolf was still under the blanket, plugging her ears and puffing her cheeks out, in a rather poor mood.

  “I know a charcoal maker who should be in a charcoal-making hut during this season! I’ll go leave my partner with him, so could I ask you to watch over my sheep until I come back?!”

  Even the most skilled shepherds would not be able to bring such a large flock into the woods and expect good results. But doing it this way, Lawrence and Holo would probably still be able to make it to the next inn by sunset, so the least they could do was take care of the sheep.

  “All right, then!”

  Horad smiled in relief and started coming closer, parting the sheep around him.

  The chestnut-colored sheepdog was anxiously trying to look back at the flock of sheep.

  When the dog gave up and glanced at Lawrence, he saw eyes that were intelligent and a deep, burned brown.

  “May God bless you, Master Lawrence.”

  “Oh, no worries. We were planning to stay parked here for a while anyway.”

  “That’s…”

  Horad had come over to stand by the side of the wagon bed, and when he finally noticed Holo, he nodded in understanding.

  “From far away, I was sure you had a servant boy with you, but…How rude of me to interrupt…”

  “Ah no, you misunderstand. We were just in Svernel participating in the Festival of the Dead, and we were resting here because I’ve injured my back.”

  Horad stared at him blankly, unsure if he should laugh or not.

  “By the way, Mr. Horad.”

  Lawrence was curious.

  “You don’t think I might run away with your sheep?”

  The vague smile did not vanish from Horad’s face when he turned his bright blue eyes toward Lawrence.

  He gave off the impression that no matter what hard days he had been through, he would still gaze into the sunset with this expression.

  “It’s strange, but watching sheep every day has, for some reason, given me the ability to weigh people.”

  Lawrence shrugged and nodded.

  “Besides, the road is muddy and the forest still has snow everywhere.
There is still a clean layer of it on the field over there. At least until spring comes, I’d be able to follow you anywhere, Master Lawrence.”

  He was absolutely right.

  “Well then, I’ll keep a sharp eye on your sheep. Do you need water? We have wine, as well.”

  “Thank you so much. I’ll just have some water.”

  Lawrence retrieved the waterskin from his things, and after asking permission, Horad placed his partner onto the wagon bed, taking a breather to have a drink. Then, he cupped some water in his hand and offered it to his companion. The sheepdog wagged his tail as he drank from his master’s hand, but he kept glancing toward Holo under the blanket.

  “Well, we’ll be off. It is not that far, so even if the sheep start disappearing, I’ll be right back.”

  Horad once again pulled his trusty dog onto his shoulders.

  “If the charcoal maker is not in or I can’t find him, then I will take that as a sign from God to take you up on the offer to go to Svernel.”

  Horad beamed a bright expression at Lawrence and dipped his head.

  Directly after, without hesitation, he started making his way into the woods.

  “Well, then.”

  Lawrence murmured and took the shepherd’s staff that had been left leaning against the wagon bed.

  “It’s only for a short time, but how am I supposed to keep all these sheep together…?”

  The moment Horad and his partner disappeared, the bleating sheep immediately began to scatter, like a barrel that had its hoops come loose.

  Lawrence tried to stand, but all the joints in his body groaned in pain.

  “Ooof…Damn, I swear.”

  But he believed moving around a bit would at least make it a little more bearable, so he placed his hand on the edge of the bed, but the staff was suddenly swiped from him. He looked, and Holo, still pouting, gripped the shaft.

  “You are quite infuriating.”

  “Huh?”

  “I am not a fool who simply eats and sleeps. What am I to you?”

  Holo had asked this same question during his traveling merchant days, and Lawrence remembered how he was flabbergasted at the time.

  That was a time when he only ever looked at where his feet were as he walked, and whenever he found change on the floor, he truly considered it a blessing from God. He had been unable to bring himself to believe the enormous treasure that had been set before his eyes, making him scared to reach out back then.